HOURS: Saturdays & Sundays, 1-4pm — February through November
Haley’s Comet Time Capsule Opening!
September 20, 2026 3pm AV Museum Grounds
During the Spring of 1986, students and teachers at the Anderson Valley Elementary created a time capsule to commemorate the passing of Haley's Comet. The capsule itself is made from a prototype wheel well from The Voyager, the experimental aircraft that would, later that year, become the first plane to fly around the world without refueling.
The capsule has been cared for at The AV Museum for the last 40 years!
Come join the fun as those students gather to open Haley’s Comet Time Capsule!
The Anderson Valley History Museum is the crown jewel of the Anderson Valley Historical Society. The museum also features displays highlighting the lives of the early settlers to the Valley, our extensive farming, ranching and fruit-growing heritage, dating back to the 1880s, and our region’s rich Native American culture. We have photos, records, furniture and clothing, and items of daily life of all kinds, all donated by Anderson Valley’s families. These displays give our museum a profound personal touch, a feeling that you are stepping back in time to experience life as it’s been lived by generations of Valley people. And of course, we have lots of information about Boontling, the unique and quirky local language that’s such an important and entertaining part of Anderson Valley’s colorful history.
Our centerpiece is the one-room schoolhouse building, affectionately known locally as the Little Red Schoolhouse. First called the Con Creek Schoolhouse, the school was built in 1891. The children of lumberjacks, sheep farmers and fruit growers attended class there for almost ninety years, right up to 1979.
Logo design by Martha Cooley Crawford Design Matters
Search Anderson Valley Graveyards
through Find-A-Grave
You can now search identified markers in four graveyards on the Anderson Valley Graveyards page and through Mendocino County Records.
Anderson Valley is located in Mendocino County, a two hour drive north of San Francisco. Highway 128 stretches between Highway 101 and the Pacific Coast Highway.